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Twitter Adds Context to Tweets With Related Headlines

Twitter announced today that it’s adding context and background to tweets with the roll out of Related Headlines.

Introduced in July, Related Headlines enable people to learn more about the tweets they read. This section, which can be viewed from the tweet’s permalink page, lists and links to websites where the tweet was embedded.

A good example of this can be seen in a tweet from NBA player Jason Collins. In the example below, Collins thanked fans for supporting him after he came out earlier this year. Someone who stumbled upon this tweet might not have known what it was referring to.

Clicking on a related headline would have provided the back story. The news traveled quickly on Twitter, and outlets like ESPN, MSNBC, and sports blogs reported the story. As the publications embedded Collins’ tweet, it provided additional context that wasn’t immediately available on Twitter.

Related Headlines links are also displayed on the embedded tweet. This could be problematic for some publishers, as TechCrunch pointed out, since they might end up displaying links to competitors on their own posts. For example, ESPN and FOX Sports are both lighted in the tweet above.

This has obvious benefits for celebrities, public figures, and media companies, but it’ll be interesting to see what Twitter plans to do with it next, if anything. For example, right now there’s no way to control which links are attached to specific tweet or the order they’re in. In the future, additional options might become available.

In the meantime, Related Headlines aim to make the Twitter experience better by curating moments within an event and the media from it.

Jennifer Beese: Jennifer Beese has worked as a community manager and social media strategist. When she’s not writing, you can find her studying anatomy and physiology—she literally has a skeleton in her closet—or under the stars with her telescope.